Electric vehicles are typically provided with a chargeport through which they can be charged. The chargeport can be located on the exterior of the vehicle to allow the user to charge the vehicle batteries from an external power source. This power source may be an alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power source. In order to accommodate these alternative charging capabilities within a compact package, ‘combo’ connectors have been developed.
A combo connector, for example the SAE J1772 combo connector, comprises separate AC and DC charging elements within a common footprint. These elements are positioned adjacent to one another, typically with the AC charging element above the DC charging element. For AC charging, only the top part of the connector is used, whereas for DC charging, the whole connector is used.
The presence of this shared geometry can present problems in terms of environmental contamination during AC charging as the DC element of the charging port is unused and as such may be subject to the ingress of dust, water, snow or other environmental pollutants. In order to address this, it is known to provide a dust cover for the DC element of the charging port for use during AC charging. These dust covers may be loose or may be tethered to the chargeport.